Love and Loss
by Mel Writer
Summary: Sanji passes. Zoro Grieves. And Luffy helps Zoro mourn. Un-requanted Zoro-Sanji. Slight Zolu if you want. T to be safe.


This story, I won't lie, was inspired by a song (as so many of my ZoSan's are) called Landing In London, by 3 Doors Down.

© I do not own one piece, the characters used in the making of this fic, or the song used to inspire the story.

Note: I seriously cried while writing this!

~`~.~

The man sat at the end of the newly filled grave, the very same one that bore the name of the only person the man had ever loved. _'Sanji...'_ the man thought, doing his best to keep track of his tears. It was hard when he had been crying all day. Finally, after fighting so hard against them, Zoro realized he had already lost the battle, the tears already making fresh tracks over his skin. Lips trembling, Zoro clenched his teeth, his breath coming once again in labored pants. He pulled his hand up to his face to try and keep the sounds he was making at bay.

It hardly worked.

"Sanji," Zoro began. In this moment, Zoro was not the swordsman everyone looked up to, nor was he the man who held his friends together in tough times. Now, he was just a man, if that. What kind of man punches the one he loves out of anger at them? He wasn't a man! He was a boy in a young adults body!

Zoro pursed his lips to stop his train of thought. Taking a breath deep enough to hurt his already injured ribs and lungs, Zoro lifted himself from his wheelchair and slowly lowered his body until he was almost sitting in sezia. His body screamed in pain, protesting to its position. Zoro ignored it all. So what if he had a few newly broken bones and torn muscles? He'd had worse before! What was so different this time around?

Sanji was there for him the first time, but not now. That's what the difference was...

Once fully in sezia, Zoro let out his shuddered breath, the one he'd been holding since he'd started to move. With his right hand in a sling, Zoro reached out with his left and placed it on top of the up-turned soil. He collected what was left of his nearly shattered mind and began to speak again.

"_Sanji,"_ the name was spoken in a broken whisper, but Zoro didn't feel like correcting it. "why did I let you go without even telling you? I love you! So much... just so _fucking_ much!" he took a handful of the dirt and tossed it aside. "NO!" he screamed, "You can't be dead! I still have so much to say to you! Please!" he began to use his cast-covered arm to help remove the dirt.

Zoro barely became aware of two things. One: his mind was really gone now. He had finally shattered his mind completely. He probably wouldn't be the same for a while. All he could do was cry Sanji's name and pull at the dirt covering Sanji's coffin. Two: there were people calling out to him. He didn't know who or where they were or even what they were saying, but he could hear them. Soon two sets of large hands pulled on his arms and put him back into his chair forcefully.

"_Zoro! Man, wake up!"_

Zoro fought with all he had, pushing against the hands and the pain in his body. Hell, he almost couldn't even feel his bodily pain, just the pain in his heart and mind. He wasn't even sure what he was screaming anymore, he just couldn't stop trying to get to Sanji, even knowing that his mind was gone, he couldn't stop. Until he had Sanji back in his arms, he wouldn't stop. His momentarily unseeing eyes saw Sanji's face right in front of him, beckoning him, telling him to get his ass in gear and hurry up.

Zoro's body was stilled by the sudden feel of someone climbing into his lap. He quieted down as his eyes began to take in the sun setting in the distance, making the sky a near blood red. Off to the side of his vision, he could see a straw hat, and knew who's arms were around his shoulders.

"L-Lu..." Zoro couldn't get the name out of his mouth and off his tongue, but he knew it was Luffy who was helping him regain his sanity. When the words Luffy was muttering in his ear finally caught hold of Zoro's reason, the green-haired man in turn held onto Luffy's back with his one good arm.

"It'll be OK. Everything will be OK, in the end. It'll be OK." Zoro heard the normally joyous teen stiffly a sob, and leaned his head against the smaller shoulder and let himself go, crying and mourning the loss of the loved one he never really had the chance to have.

~`~.~

P.S. Why do I seem to only write short one-shots? I really have no clue...


End file.
